Device for treating a continuously moving fabric web in at least three treatment zones



Aug. 4, 1970 uc 3,522,719

DEVICE FOR TREATING A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING FABRIC WEB m AT LEAST THREE TREATMENT ZONES Filed Sept. 24, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 4, 1970 K. BRUCKNER 3,522,719

DEVICE FOR TREATING A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING FABRIC WEB IN AT LEAST THREE TREATMENT zomss Filed Sept. 24, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l l mum 22 l l l l I United States Patent O 3,522,719 DEVICE FOR TREATING A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING FABRIC WEB IN AT LEAST THREE TREATMENT ZONES 1 Kurt Bruckner, Leonberg, Germany, assignor to Bruckner Trockentechnik KG, Leonberg, Wurttemberg, Germany Filed Sept. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 761,969 Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 27, 1967, 1,610,912 Int. Cl. B05c 3/134, 3/138 US. Cl. 68-20 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device for treating a continuously moving fabric web in at least three treatment zones, wherein in the first and third treatment zones the Web is held at its edges, While in the intermediate second treatment zone it is free.

Fabric webs, especially textile webs, must often be subjected to several sequential treatment stages in a continuous method. Thus it is for instance often necessary first to wash a textile web, then remove water, and finally to impregnate, dye or dry it.

In such a continuous treatment in several zones it is often necessary to hold the web at its edges (e.g.by clamping chains) in the first and third treatment zones, to prevent undesired shrinkage of the web, i.e. reduction of its width. For constructional or processing reasons it is however often impossible to hold the material at its edges in the intermediate second treatment zone (this is the case for instance if the web has to be fed through a pair of squeezing rollers in the second treatment zone).

With known devices the web is consequently fed through the first treatment zone by means of a first pair of clamping chains, then removed from these chains, fed over guide rollers to the second treatment zone '(e.g. a pair of squeeze rollers), fed over further guide rollers to the third treatment zone and there mounted on a further pair of clamping chains which take the web through this third treatment zone.

Such devices involve a serious disadvantage. Since the separate clamping members used for the first and third zones must be diverted in the region of the intermediate second treatment izone, design considerations result in a relatively great length for this second treatment zone, whereas if only the processing aspects need be considered, it could usually be kept much shorter. And since the web is not held by its edges in the second treatment zone, but is free, and since the longitudinal tension must be transmitted by the web, there is an undesired shrinkage of the web, i.e. a considerable reduction of its width, especially with tension-sensitive materials. A further disadvantage of using separate clamping chains in the first and third zones is the required synchronisation of their speeds by expensive control and drive devices.

3,522,719 Patented Aug. 4, 1970 ice SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is therefore to provide a device which eliminates these disadvantages of the known constructions.

According to the invention this: object is achieved in that the first and third treatment zones are provided with common feed and clamping members which release the fabric web at the start of the second treatment zone and re-engage it at the end of said second zone.

Since diversion of the feed and clamping members at the end of the first and the start of the third treatment zone is thus avoided, the second treatment zone can be made as short as the process involved permits. The sector over which the web is not held by its edges is thus reduced to a minimum, so that the undesired shrinkage of the web width is largely avoided. Also only one drive is needed to transport the fabric web through the three treatment zones.

In general it will be desirable to carry the feed and clamping members, after the web is removed, through the second treatment zone at the same level at which they travel through the first and third treatment zones. It is however also possible to choose a single plane for the web in the three treatment zones and thus to convey the feed and clamping members in the area of the second treatment zone in an offset plane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the main parts of a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are schematic side views of three further embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The device, shown only in its basic features in FIGS. 1 and 2, is used for treating a continuously moving fabric web in at least three treatment zones 1, 2, 3 through which the fabric web 4 is fed in sequence.

In the first treatment zone 1 the material may for example ibe washed. It may have water removed in the second zone 2 by a pair of squeeze rollers 5, and be impregnated, dyed or dried in the third zone 3.

The fabric web is conveyed through the three treatment zones by common feed and clamping members, comprising for instance two clamping chains 6 engaging the edges of web 4 with needles or clamps. These two clamping chains 6 are mounted in guides 7.

In the area of the first treatment zone 1 the fabric web 4 is held at its edges by clamping chains 6. At the start of the second treatment zone 2 this web 4 is removed from the chains 6. A needle release rod 8 is provided for this purpose. The web 4 released from the clamping chains 6 is passed through the two rubber-covered squeeze rollers 5, and in this manner water is removed. The expressed fiuid is collected in a vessel 9.

After passing through the pair of squeeze rollers 5 the fabric web 4 is again returned by a guide rod 10 to the plane of the clamping chains 6, and there re-engaged with said chains by means of wire brushes 11. Since the pair of squeeze rollers 5 in the second treatment zone 2 usually cause some longitudinal stretching of web 4, the adjustably driven wire brushes 11 can apply the web 4 in small folds onto the needles of the clamping chains 6.

FIG. 1 shows that the treatment zone 2 can be kept quite short so that web 4 is unsupported at its edges for only a small distance.

However since a certain lateral shrinkage of web 4 in the area of treatment zone 2 is unavoidable, the guide rails 7 for clamping chains 6 have joints 12, 13, 14 in the second treatment zone, at the end of the second treatment zone 2 and at a certain distance behind the end of said zone, which permit an oblique conveyance of chains 6 to correct any width-reduction of web 4 caused in the second treatment zone 2. As FIG. 2 shows, in the region between joints 13 and 14 the fabric web 4 thus returns to the original width which it had at the end of the first treatment zone 1 (before removal from the needles).

With the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 the second treatment zone 2 comprises a perforated suction drum 15 disposed above the clamping chains 6, with web 4 lying against the drum periphery. The air sucked from the outside to the inside through the web 4 and the perforated peripheral wall of suction drum 15, in the direction of arrows 16, removes moisture from the web, said moisture then being extracted from the interior of drum 15. Deflector rollers 17, 18 ensure that the web 4 lies against the drum periphery over a large angular segment. The part of the drum periphery not covered by web 4 is cut off from the suction effect by partitions 19.

The further details of removing the web 4 from the clamping chains 6 at the end of treatment zone 1 and of reapplying the partly dried web at the start of zone 3 are the same as in the first embodiment.

With the embodiment in FIG. 4 a suction drum 20- is provided in the second treatment zone 2, the drum periphry rotating with web 4 also being perforated. At the upper part of the suction drum is a relatively narrow suction zone formed by partitions 21. This construction permits high powered suction and thus especially intensive removal of water from web 4 (however in addition to removing water the suction drum in FIG. 3 can also be advantageously used for full drying, by drawing hot air through).

With the embodiment in FIG. 5 the second treatment zone 2 contains a fixed suction body 22 in whose top a suction slot 23 is provided. The web 4 removed from chains 6 at the end of treatment zone 1 is drawn over this suction body 22 by a feed roll 24. Behind this feed roll the web 4 is again applied by wire-brushes 11 onto the needles of the clamping chains 6, as with the embodiments described earlier.

The adjustment of guide rails 7 at the joints 12, 13, 14 as explained in relation to FIG. 2, in order to correct any reduction of web width occurring in treatment zone 2, can be controlled by a device which detects the web edges at the end of the second treatment zone. Instead of such detection and automatic adjustment of the guide rails, the latter may obviously also be used with a fixed setting, if no changes are expected in the shrinkage behavior withing the second treatment zone.

The guide rails may converge slightly at the end of the first treatment zone, in the direction of web travel, so that the material tension is reduced at the end of the first treatment zone before the web is fed into the second treat ment zone, e.g. the squeeze rollers. This considerably reduces the tension and the shrinkage of the material at the moment of release from the needles so that the material may readily pass through the squeeze rollers and equally readily be re-mounted on the needles at the smaller chain width.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for continuously treating a moving fabric web in at least three treatment zones, comprising a pair of laterally spaced endless feeding and clamping members for holding the edges of the fabric web, which extend through the first and third of three treatment zones, means for releasing the edges of the fabric web from the endless feeding and clamping members at the end of the first treatment zone to permit the fabric web to travel through the second treatment zone, and means for reengaging the edges of the fabric web with the endless feeding and clamping members at the end of the second treatment zone.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the second treatment zone comprises a pair of squeeze rollers between which the fabric web passes, arranged above the endless feeding and clamping members.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein the second treatment zone comprises a perforated suction drum around which the fabric web passes, arranged above the endless feeding and clamping members.

4. A device according to claim 1 wherein the second treatment zone comprises a fixed suction body having a suction slot in its top over which the fabric web passes, arranged above the endless feeding and clamping members.

5. A device according to claim 1 wherein the endless feeding and clamping members are carried in guides each having three spaced joints the first of which follows the first treatment zone and the second of which closely follows the second treatment zone, for guiding the endless feeding and clamping members so that they converge in the second treatment zone to accommodate lateral shrinkage of the web occurring in such zone, and then diverge to correct such shrinkage.

6. A device according to claim 1 wherein the means for re-engaging the edges of the fabric web with the endless feeding and clamping members at the end of the second treatment zone is adapted to apply the web to the endless feeding and clamping members in small folds to allow for longitudinal stretching occurring in the second treatment zone.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 644,498 2/1900 Cook 6820 1,786,031 12/1930 Scott 2661 2,003,397 6/1935 Smith 68-20 X 2,293,154 8/1942 Lovett 6862 X WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 6822 

